Machine for excavating, conveying, and loading ballast upon railways-cars.



No. 659,008. Patentedflc't. 2, I900. A. TOBREY.

MACHINE FOB EXCAVATING, CONVEYING, AND LOADING BALLAST UPIIN RAILWAYCABS.

(Application filed. {My 18, 1900.)

(No Nodal.) 2 Sheets-Shoot l.

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Patented Oct. 2, I900. A. TORREY. MAGHlNE FOB EXGAVATING, CUNVEYING AN'DLOADING BALLAST UPON CH5. RAILWAY CARS.

I (gipplication filed July 16, 1900) 2 sheetssheet 2.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFI E.

AUGUSTUS TORREY,OF.DETRO1T, MICHIGAN.v

MACHI NE- FOR E'XCAVATlNG, CONVEYING, AND LOADING BALLAST UPONRAILWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 659,008, dated October1900- Application filed July 16, 1900. Serial No. 23,721. No model-J Toall whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS TORREY, a citizen of 'theUnited States ofAmerica, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State ofMichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machinesfor Excavating, Conveying, and Loading Ballast upon Railway Cars, ofwhich the following is a specification, reference being had.

therein to the accompanying drawings.

On an extensive road-bed gravel is constantly required for ballastrenewals and other work incident to the proper mainte-- nance of theroad-bed, yet theamount is sel-" dom large enough to permit theeconomical employment of the steam-shovel, as the latter requires theattendance of a locomotive and of an extra engine and crew to haul theballast away and distribute it along the track.f

On the other hand, when hand labor is employed the cost of loadingis'considerable,.

although the heavy expense of a locomotive and extra engine and-crew maybe done away with, as the local freight-trains are sufficient to haulthe loaded cars away. An arrangement which permits the loading ofsmaller quantities of material than would be handled by a steam-shovelworking to its capacity and at a cost for loading which approximatesthat of the steam-shovel work-would therefore be a very desirableimprovement, and it is the object of myinvention to accomplish the same.To this end my improvement has for its principal feature a novel meansfor loading the ballast at the pit which embodiesa combination ofmachine-Work and'hand labor.

Briefly described, it consists of a loadingcar, which occupies a trackat the footof the gravel-bank and has inclined conveyors movingtransversely of the car, which receives the materialfrom hoppers at thefoot'of the conveyors on the side toward the bank and dumps it into theballast-car standing upon an adjacent track. The material is dug anddeposited into the hoppers by the men with scoop-shovels similar to theordinary shovel,

shovel much as in the usual manner, but has the assistance of powerderived from the prime motor which imparts a constantrisingand-fallingmotion to each shovel through a Each -man handles hissuspension-rope of some length freely supporting the shovel from anoverhead frame on the car. In working with this type of shovel each mantimes his movements with the up-and-down motion of'the shovel. When theshovel is in about its lowest position, the operator presses it into thebank and continues this pressure during the early part of the upwardmovement imparted by the power.

At about the time ofithe highest position of the shovel the operatorswings it over the hopper and overturns it. He returns theshovel-bladeto the bank during the downward movement.

Thus the filling of the shovel is largely and the lifting of the loadedshovel is completely done by the power, and the manual participation inthe work accomplished is requiredat a time when the vertical movementdue to the power is least. The ballast-car standing beside theloading-car on a separate track is filled for half its length withoutshifting either car by first permitting the gravel to drop directly fromthe conveyers into the gravel-car, and when suflicient material isdeposited opposite the conveyers inclined troughs are used to direct thematerial'from both conveyors into the in-' tervening space. In thismanner the object of the invention is fully accomplished, and I 'willnow proceed-to describe more fully the various details of an apparatusdesigned for carrying out the invention and shown in the "accompanyingdrawings, in.which Figure l is an end elevation showing both the loadingand the ballast car as in practical operatiomand Fig. 2:is a plan ofFig. 1.

A denotes the loading-car, and B the ballast-car, both standing onseparate tracks side by side, the former being at the foot of thegravel-bank. The loading-car is housed over toinclose the source ofpower (not shown) and furnish a suit-able support at the ends for twoconveyor-belts 0, arranged transversely of the car at an incline andpassing over pulleys D. This belt carries buckets E, formed of steelplates with overlapping sides, as in the usual manner of forming'acontinuous" carrier. Power is conveyed from the engine to thecounter-shaft F, and thence to the shaft G, and a suitable clutch H isarranged'on the counter-shaft F, by means of which the conveyers may bethrown out of gear and stopped without shutting down the engine, as isdesirable in shifting cars. This clutch maybe worked by cords pulledfrom a convenient. point outside the loading-car.

At the foot of each conveyer and extending toward the gravel-bank is ahopper I for supplying the material to the conveyor, and to the upperend of the con veyei frames are pivotally secured the troughs J, adaptedto be adjusted in position beneath the discharge ends of the conveycrsto receive the material and direct it toward the central portions of theballast-car after the end portions are filled.

Attached to the upper part of the elevatorcar there is an'overhangingframe K, carrying a horizontal shaft- L at some distance above the trackand beyond a perpendicular line through either hopper. On each end ofthis shaft there is a double crank, each forming a pair ofoppositely-extending crank-arms M M. From these cranks are suspended tworopes N N, to each of which is attached at the lower end a scoop-shovel0, provided with a long handle P, the scoop being of a size to holdabout two to three times more than the ordinary track-shovel. 'lhe ropeis attached to the handle of the scoop somewhere near the blade and isprovided with convenient means, such as a strap and buckle, to adjustthe length of the rope. Each crank is of about a length equal to alittle more than one-half the distance between the top of the hopper andthe bottom of the tie of the load ing-track, and the cranks at one endof the shaft are placed at right angles to the cranks at the other end.A rotary motion suitable to the comfort of the operator (say ten totwelve revolutions per minute) is transmitted to the shaft L from theprime motor through suitable intermediate connections.

In practice,the parts being constructed and arranged as shown anddescribed, they are intended to operate follows: Each single shovel hasimparted to it by the revolution of the crank to which itis connected arisingand-t'alling motion, in which it is alternately lowered down tothe bottom of the ties and raised up to a height above the hopper, sothat in keeping time the operator in thrusting his shovel into thegravel-bank utilizes the upward motion to fill it and have it lifted upover the hopper, when he empties it by giving a turn to the handle. Asthe crank descends the scoop is lowered, while the operator at the sametime turns the blade toward the grave1-bank for the next shovelful. Inthis manner each of the four scoops are worked from the one shaft andowing to the relative dispositions of the cranks on the shaft the fourshovels follow each other at intervals of on e-quarterof a revolution,while the two shovels which deliver-it into the same hopper are half arevolution apart. In this manner the work on the engineis evenlydistributed, while at the same time the two men delivering to the samehopper do not interfere with each other in their work.

\Vith a crank-shaft about twenty-four feet above the track overhangingthe inner rail about seven feet and having cranks about one and one-halffeet long it will be seen that the men can cut away the bank on a levelwith the under side of the ties ata distance of ten feet from the hopperwith the full assistance of the power, while in unloading they will haveto be swung less than four feet from the perpendicular line, whichrequires but little exertion. As the men can easily keep time with theshaft revolving about ten times a minute, each man will deposit tenlarge shovelt'uls into the hopper, while the ordinary rate at which ashoveler will load gravel onto a flat-car from the ground-level is onlyabou televen shovelfuls of the ordinary track-shovel per minute. Fourshovelers, with the assistance of two men to pole down 1 he bank, canthus load twelve cars, holding twenty-six yards of gravel each, per dayof ten hours, and the hauling of this amount of gravel can be ordinarilyaccomplished by making use of the local freighttrains.

The loading-car may be provided with traction-wheels by suit-ableconnection with the engine, although ordinarily this will not benecessary, as the shoveling-crew can do the shifting themselves as thebank within their reach becomes shoveled away.

The troughs at the ends of the con veyers are made to slide in and outof position, and the gravel is first permitted to drop directly from theconveyers into the ballast-car until points opposite the conveyers aretilled. Then the troughs are set in position (see Fig. 1) to direct thematerial from both conveyers into the intervening space, thus loadingthe car for one-half its whole length without the necessity of shiftingeither car.

What I claim as my invention is 1. In a machine for the purposedescribed, a loading-car upon a track alongside of the bank and providedwith inclined conveyors mounted on the car transversely of the track,and projecting with their ends beyond the sides of the car, the lowerends extending down to near the ground at the foot of the bank andprovided with hoppers adapted to receive the material for supplying theconveyers by means of shovels and the upper ends extending to a suitableheight and distance beyond the opposite side of the car for directlydischarging the material from the conveyors upon a ballast-car standingalongside the loading-car on a separate track.

2. In a machine for the purpose described, a loading-car upon a trackalongside of the bank and provided with two inclined conveyers mountedtransversely of the track at the opposite ends of said car respectively,and

projecting with their ends beyond the sides,

of the car, the lower ends of said con veyers extending from the cartoward the foot of the bank, and provided with hoppers adapted to supplythe'material to the conveye'rs and to receive it by means ofmanually-operated shovels from the bank'and theupper ends of saidconveyers extending on the opposite sides to a distance and height fordirectly discharging the material from both conveyers into the oppositeends respectively, of aballast-car, upon a separate track alongside ofthe loading-car. g

3. In a machine for the purpose described, a loading-car upon a trackalongside of the bank and provided with two inclined convey-- erstransversely supported at the opposite ends on the car respectively,each conveyer projecting with its lower end beyond the side of the cartoward the foot of the bank and with its upper end beyond the oppositeside of the car, said conveyors provided at their lower ends withhoppers and at their upper ends provided with lateral discharge-chutesadapted to be thrown into and out of operation, all so arranged that aballast-car standing on a separate track beside the loading car may befilled by first conveying the material directly from the hoppers andthen completing the load by directing the material from both conveyerstoward the intervening spaces by means of the chutes.

4. In a machine for the purpose described, a loading-car upon a trackalongside of the bank and having its platform inclosed with a housing,two inclined conveyors transversely supported on the outside of thehousing at the opposite ends thereof respectively, a source of powerinclosed within said housing and suitable Iransmitting-gear forimparting a continuous motion'to both of said conveyors under control ofa suitable clutch for throwing them in and out of operation, saidconveyors extending with their lower ends beyond the side of the car,toward the foot of the bank and provided with hoppers adapted to receivethe material from the bank by means of shovels and to supply the same tothe conveyers, and the upper ends extending beyond the opposite side ofthe car and adapted to directly discharge the material into aballast-car standing on a separate track on the side of the loading-car.

5. In a machine for the purpose described, the com binat ion of aloading-car upon a track alongside of the bank and provided with twoinclined conveyers mounted thereon transversely to the track and adaptedto receive the material from hoppers at the foot of the conveyers on theside of the loading-car adjacent to the bank and discharge it on theopposite side into a ballast-car standing alongside of it on a separatetrack, shovels suspended from the loading-car free to swing between thehoppers and the bank and means for impartinga continuousrising-and-falling motion to the shovels as a mechanical aid to themanual operation of the same.

6. In a machine for the purpose described,

the combination with a loading-car upon a track alongside of the bank,and provided with inclined con veyers mounted on said car transverselyof the track and adapted to receive the material from hoppers at thefoot of the con veyers on one side of the car and convey it into aballast-car upon the opposite side-of said loading-car, of track-shovelspen the material from hoppers at the foot of the conveyers on the sideof the loading-car adjacent to the bank and discharge it on the oppositeside into a ballast-car standing alongside of it on a separate track, arevolving crank shaft mounted on an overhanging frame above the hoppersand shovels, two for each hopper freely suspended fromoppositely-extending. cranks on said shaft and adapted to swing freelybetween the hoppers and the bank.

8. In a machine for the purpose described, the combination of aloading-car upon a track alongside of the bank and provided with twoinclined conveyers mounted thereon transversely to the track and adaptedto receive the material from hoppers at the foot of the con veyers onthe side of the loading-car adjacent to the bank and discharge it 011the opposite side into a ballast-car standing alongside of it on aseparate track, a revolving crank -,shaft mounted on an overhangingframe above the hoppers, and shovels, two for each hopper freelysuspended in front of the hoppers by ropes from oppositely-extendingcranks on said crank-shaft, the cranks supporting the shovels for onehopper being at right angles to the cranks supporting the shovels forthe other hopper.

9. In a machine for the purpose described, the combination with aloading-car upon a track alongside of the bank and provided with twoinclined conveyers operated from a source of power on the car andadapted to receive the material from the hoppers on the side of the caradjacent to the bank near the ground and to conveyit directly into ahallast-car standing on the other side of the loading-car, of thecrank-shaft having oppositelyeXt-ending cranks at each end, with thecranks IIO ing continuous rotary motion to the crankshaft, thesuspension devices from said crankshaft and the track-sh0vels,c0nnectedat their handles to the suspension devices and adapted to be manuallyoperated with the mechanical assistance of the power derived from themotion of the crank-shaft.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

AUGUSTUS TORREY.

Witnesses:

GEO. E. TEGART, W. V. BUTLER.

